While many associate these returns with a strong emotional bond, there are studies that present explanations based on the heightened senses and instinctive abilities of these animals.
Some stories of lost dogs leave us curious: there are often cases in which they disappear for months, years, and then suddenly reappear at home. The question is: how do they find their way home after traveling miles?
Cases like this fascinate and intrigue, raising questions about how these animals manage to accomplish these feats. While many view these returns as prolonged forms of emotional bonding, science offers explanations based on these animals’ heightened senses and instinctive abilities.
The acute sense of dogs
Dogs have various senses that aid them in spatial navigation, allowing them to create mental maps of the environment. This information corridor serves as the basis for their tracking abilities, perhaps inherited from their wolf ancestors. This, combined with their extraordinary sense of smell, forms the basis of their remarkable navigational abilities.
Dogs’ construction of mental maps involves using their senses in complex ways. In addition to sight, which allows them to recognize familiar landmarks, according to several experts, a crucial role is played by smell. With a sense of smell between 10,000 and 100,000 times sharper than that of humans, dogs can detect and follow scent trails, an ability known as tracking.
According to research, dogs use these scent trails to plot routes back to their point of origin. Olfactory information, in addition to visual and auditory references, helps in spatial orientation in relation to one’s home and other familiar places. This supports the idea that dogs can perceive the world in unique and detailed ways.
“Internal compass”
THE magnetoreception, that is, the ability to detect magnetic fields is a proven feature in some species such as birds and fish. Some studies suggest that dogs may also have this ability. Recent research on hunting dogs has shown that they can use the Earth’s magnetic field to orient themselves, especially in unfamiliar places without familiar visual references.
Experiments in Europe have shown that several dogs manage to return to their owners by following a “compass race”, a strategy that perhaps depends on the detection of the Earth’s magnetic field. This ability appears to significantly speed up dogs’ return compared to using their sense of smell alone.
While science explains some of dogs’ navigational abilities through their sensory abilities, emotional bonds can also influence these journeys. Modern dog breeding brings them intimately close to humans and this closeness forms emotional bonds comparable to those between parents and children.
“Dogs raised with humans can form bonds with them similar to those between parents and children, and a key aspect of this type of bond is a strong motivation to seek reunion when separated,” states Monique Udelldirector of the Human-Animal Interaction Laboratory at Oregon State University, in an interview with National Geographic Brasil.
These emotional bonds provide strong motivation for dogs to return to their families. When a dog gets lost, the instinctive impulse to return to its “home” – understood as the place where its owners are – is often strengthened by these feelings of security and attachment.
How can guardians prevent escapes?
Protecting dogs from getting lost requires effective preventative measures, such as the use of identification collars and microchips. Therefore, these items make it easier to find him if a dog gets lost. Despite the remarkable ability some dogs have to return on their own, relying on modern technology can prevent moments of distress for both dogs and their owners, right?
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Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
